Wire coiling



Aug. 25, 1964 o. A. BRAUTIGAM 3,145,760

WIRE COILING Filed Nov. 28, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Aug. 25, 1964 o. A. BRAUTIGAM WIRE COILING 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed NOV. 28, 1960 WIRE COILING 1 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed NOV. 28, 1960 Fig.3

Fig.4

United States Patent 3,145,760 WIRE COILING Olof August Brautigam, Goteborg, Sweden, assignor t0 Elektriska Svetsningsaktiebolaget, Goteborg, Sweden, a

corporation of Sweden Filed Nov. 28, 1960, Ser. No. 72,048 Claims priority, application Sweden Dec. 4, 1959 3 Claims. (Cl. 15364) This invention relates to a method and a machine for coiling wire.

It is a general object of the invention to provide an improved method of coiling wire into bundles or coils. A more particular object of the invention is to provide a method of coiling wire into bundles or coils of such characteristics as to tend to maintain their shape and dimensions even in the absence of constraining members. Another object is the provision of suitable automatic apparatus for carrying out the improved process. Still another object is the provision of a coil or bundle of wire combining a comparatively high factor of wire density with such characteristics as to allow the wire to be paid out from the coil without any danger of wedging or sticking between the turns of the coil. Other objects and features of the invention will be apparent from the following specification.

The method according to the invention has the feature in common with certain prior coil Winding methods that the wire prior to being applied on a coil carrier is advanced through a continuous bending device adapted to apply to the wire a degree of curvature or bend corresponding to the diameter of the coil. According to an important feature of the present invention the wire coil is built up by a plurality of substantially plane multi-turn wire spirals which are wound alternately with convolutions of increasing width and with convolutions of decreasing width, said spirals being successively deposited in a substantially unstressed condition on top of each other on a coil carrying means. According to another feature of the invention, the setting of the continuous bending device is successively changed as the wire is advanced therethrough, said change of setting being carried out in such a manner as to make the wire convolutions emerging from said bending device assume the shape of a succession of multi-turn flat spirals.

By the process according to the invention, wire coils of various sizes can be produced quickly and cheaply. The process can be employed for the manufacture of coils which are to be delivered without any covers or casings or protected only by a paper tape or the like wound about the wire coil, as well as for the manufacture of wire coils which are to be delivered or shipped in a case or package, for instance a cardboard or sheet metal barrel. In the latter case, the coiling of the wire is preferably effected directly in the case or barrel.

The length of time required for the formation of a full turn of wire in the bending device is equal to the ratio of the length of wire contained in said turn and the velocity of the wire. To state this fact in another manner, the rate of formation of the wire turns in the bending device is equal to the ratio of the velocity of the wire to the length of the individual turns of wire. According to a preferred feature of the method according to the invention, said rate of formation of the wire turns in equal to the rate of rotation of the wire coil carrier or the wire coil. This relation can be established in several ways. According to one possibiliy, the rate of rotation of the wire coil is kept constant while the rate of advance of the wire is varied. According to a second possibility, the rate of advance of the wire is constant While the rate of rotation of the wire coil is varied. Finally, both of the entities indicated (the rate of rotation of the wire coil and the rate of advance of the wire) may be varied. While all of these possibilities are within the invention, a constant rate of advance of the Wire is generally to be preferred. The invention therefore in the first place comprises a process in which the wire coil is rotated at a rate of rotation which varies with the curvature imparted to the wire by the bending device, more particularly in such a manner that the instantaneous rate of rotation of the wire coil is substantially equal to the ratio of the speed with which the wire advances through the bending device to the length in an unstressed condition of the turn of wire which is being formed by the bending device.

The invention also comprises, however, a method in which both the rate of advance of the wire and the rate of rotation of the wire coil are constant. In that case, the time required for the formation of a full turn of wire of average length in the bending device will have to be equal to the constant period of rotation of the wire coil. Furthermore, the wire must be allowed to run free in several turns, for instance a number of turns corresponding to one or two complete wire spirals, between the bending device and the wire coil, in order to warrant the required freedom of adjustment of the wire turns. This particular mode of carrying out the invention is believed to be suitable for large-gage wire only; with thin wires, successive turns of wire tend to cross each other instead of being deposited concentrically in the form of a spiral.

The machine or apparatus according to the invention comprises continuous wire bending means for imparting a permanent curvature to the wire, a rotary coil carrier adapted to receive the curved wire emerging from said wire bending means, and means for changing the setting of the bending device during the winding process, the principal new feature of the machine consisting therein that the means for changing the setting of the wire bending means is adapted to operate in such a manner as to cause said bending means to shape series of wire turns of successively increasing width alternately with series of wire turns of successively decreasing width.

The wire coil carrier may be freely rotatable, in which case the rotation of the wire coil carrier and the wire coil will be effected by the advancing wire itself. In that case, the path of the wire between the bending device and the wire coil carrier of the wire coil should be as short as possible in order to enable the wire to transmit the forces required for the acceleration and the retardation of the wire coil. Moreover, the wire must not be too thin, and the weight and the moment of inertia of the wire coil must not be too large. In another form of the coiling apparatus according to the invention the wire coil carrier is adapted to be rotated by particular driving means adapted be be controlled by means coordinated with the setting of the bending device in such a manner that the instantaneous rate of rotation of the wire coil carrier is substantially equal to the ratio of the rate of advance of the wire to the length of a turn of wire having the diameter corresponding to the setting of the bending device. This form of the apparatus according to the invention will be able to effect a correct deposition of the wire in the desired spiral shape even at small wire gauges and large coil weights.

The new wire coil according to the invention is composed of a single Wire forming a plurality of flat, unstressed multi-turn spirals, said spirals being axially stacked and hanging together alternately at the inside and at the outside of the spirals.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention,

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a machine embodying the invention,

ares res FIG. 2 is a schematic top plan view of the machine shown in FIG. 1,

FIG. 2a is a top plan view of a detail broken out of FIG. 2,

FIGS. 3 and 4 are somewhat schematic axial sections through wire coils according to the invention.

A wire drum or coil carrier 1 is adapted to revolve about a vertical axis in suitable bearings in a machine frame (not shown). The coil carrier is driven by a motor 2 through suitable variator type gear means 3, and a V- belt transmission 4. The coil carrier consists of a drum or core provided at its lower extremity with four arms 5 for supporting the coil carrier. The arms 5 are adapted to be retracted through suitable operating mechanism (not shown) to permit discharge downwards of the completed wire coil. The rate of rotation of the motor 2 is controlled automatically by means of a device to be described further below. The wire to be coiled, which is advancing from right to left in FIGS. 1 and 2 and which may be supplied by a wire magazine or directly by a wire drawing block, is advanced and straightened by means of a set of advancing and straightening rolls 6 and a second set of straightening rolls 7, said two sets of straightening rolls being adapted to operate in planes at right angles to each other. At the exit end of the roll set 7 there is provided a bending roll 8 journalled on one arm 9 of a lever 11 pivoted on a pivot 16 carried by the machine frame. The other arm 11 of the lever is adapted to be operated through a connecting rod 12 by a cam disc 14 attached to a vertical cam axle 13. The connecting rod 12, the length of which is adjustable by means of an internally threaded sleeve 15, is at one end hinged to the arm 11 by means of a pin 16 and is at the other end shaped into a slide 17 provided with a cam follower 18 engaging the circumference of the cam disc 14. The pin 16 is adapted to engage any of a series of holes 19 in the arm 11, whereby the effective length of the arm 11 and, consequently, the amplitude of the rocking movement of the bending roll can be adjusted at will by the choice of a suitable hole. The cam axle 13 is adapted to be rotated by a motor 20 through transmission means including a variator 21 for adjusting the rate of rotation of the cam axle 13.

The cam axle 13 also carries a second cam disc 23 (FIG. 2a) for the purpose of automatically adjusting the rate of rotation of the coil carrier motor 2 in a determined relation to the control of the degree of curvature imparted to the wire. Said cam disc 23 actuates a cam follower 24 attached to a slide 22 adapted to transmit the motion of the cam follower to an electrical control member enclosed in a control box 25. For the proper function of the apparatus, it is necessary that the cam followers 18, 24 attain their respective highest and lowest points simultaneously regardless of the angular position of the connecting rod 12. To allow this relation to be established, the slide 22 and the control box 25 are angularly adjustable and adapted to be set in the proper angular position by means of a clamping screw 26 engaging a curved slot 27 in a plate 28 attached to the machine frame.

The electric control member referred to is adapted to control the feed of the motor 2 in such a manner that motion of the cam follower 24 and the slide 22 from one extreme position to the other extreme position will cause the rate of rotation of the motor to change continuously from one limit rate to another. Suitable circuits for this purpose are well known and need no description here. To adapt the machine to the coiling of a wire of a given material and a given gauge and advanced at a given rate of speed, one may proceed for instance as follows. The rate of rotation of the cam axle 13 is adjusted by means of the variator 21 in such a manner as to make the cam axle perform a full turn during the length of time required at the given rate of advance of the wire to advance the length of wire required to form two successive wire spirals of the shape desired. The length of the connecting rod is adjusted by means of the threaded sleeve 15 in such a way that, when the cam follower engages the highest point of the cam disc 14, the bending roll 8 imparts to the wire a degree of curvature corresponding to the innermost turn of the spiral. The amplitude of the angular movement of the arm 11 is then adjusted (by the choice of a suitable hole 19 for the pin 16) in such a way that the cam follower 13 when engaging the lowest point of the cam disc 14 will set the bending roll 8 to a position in which said bending roll will impart to the wire a degree of curvature corresponding to the outermost turn of the spiral. The slide 22 is so adjusted that the engagement of its cam follower 24 with the lowest point of the cam disc 23 will coincide in time with the engagement of the cam follower 18 with the lowest point of the cam disc 14, and is set in the correct position by means of the clamping screw 26. The rate of rotation of the coil carrier motor 2 is adapted to the rate of advance of the wire by means of the variator 3 in such a manner that, at a given radius of curvature of the curved wire, corresponding to a given length of a wire turn, the product of the rate of rotation of the coil carrier and the length of wire indicated is substantially equal to the rate of advance of the wire. This relation, once established, will be maintained by the control device 22-25 during the complete cycle of operation of the machine irrespectively of the continuous change of the radius of curvature of the Wire.

If the machine is to allow the manufacture of wire coils having different ratios between the inner and outer diameters, the control device 2225 or the electric circuit elements actuated by the same have to be so designed that different ratios between the maximum and the minimum rate of rotation of the motor 2 can be established. To this end for instance the cam disc 23 may be exchangeable.

In FIGS. 3 and 4, which schematically illustrate the structure of two different wire coils according to the invention, the arrows indicate the order in which the successive wire windings have been deposited on the coil. In the embodiment according to FIG. 3, the individual turns of the wire coils are spaced from each other while in the embodiment according to FIG. 4 the windings closely engage each other.

I claim:

1. In a wire coiling machine, continuous wire bending means for imparting a permanent curvature to the wire, a freely rotatable coil carrier adapted to receive the curved wire emerging from said wire bending means, and means for periodically modifying the action of said bending means in such a manner as to cause said bending means to shape series of wire turns of successively increasing width alternately with series of wire turns of successively decreasing width, each of said series forming a fiat spiral.

2. In a wire coiling machine, continuous wire bending means for imparting a permanent curvature to the wire, a rotary coil carrier adapted to receive the wire emerging from said continuous wire bending means, means for rotating said coil carrier, means for periodically modifying the action of said bending means in such a manner as to cause said bending means to shape series of wire turns of increasing width alternately with series of wire turns of decreasing width, each of said series forming a flat spiral, and means coordinated with said last-mentioned means for controlling the rate of rotation of the coil carrier in such a manner as to cause said rate of rotation to vary substantially in inverse proportion to the radius of curvature of the Wire emerging from said bending means.

3. In a wire coiling machine, continuous Wire bending means for imparting a permanent curvature in a horizontal plane to the wire, a coil carrier adapted to rotate about a vertical axis and to receive the wire emerging from said wire bending means, a motor and transmission means for rotating said coil carrier, a cam axle, means for rotating said cam axle at a selectable rate of rotation, a pair of cam discs on said cam axle, means controlled by one of said cam discs for adjusting the setting of the wire bending means, and means controlled by the other of said cam discs for determining the rate of rotation imparted to the coil carrier by the aforesaid motor and transmission means, said cam discs being coordinated in such a manner that a change of the setting of the bending means toward smaller radii of curvature of the wire under the control of said first-mentioned cam disc will be attended by an increase of the rate of rotation of the Wire carrier under the control of said second-mentioned cam disc, and vice versa.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Miller Nov. 14, 1905 Haldeman Apr. 16, 1918 Turner et a1 Nov. 7, 1939 Torin May 27, 1941 Moray May 30, 1944 Nigro Jan. 29, 1946 Petrillo Aug. 19, 1952 Jurgens Aug. 19, 1952 Jansen Dec. 1-8, 1956 Hickman et al Jan. 27, 1959 

1. IN A WIRE COILING MACHINE, CONTINUOUS WIRE BENDING MEANS FOR IMPARTING A PERMANENT CURVATURE TO THE WIRE, A FREELY ROTATABLE COIL CARRIER ADAPTED TO RECEIVE THE CURVED WIRE EMERGING FROM SAID WIRE BENDING MEANS, AND MEANS FOR PERIODICALLY MODIFYING THE ACTION OF SAID BENDING MEANS IN SUCH A MANNER AS TO CAUSE SAID BENDING MEANS TO SHAPE SERIES OF WIRE TURNS OF SUCCESSIVELY INCREASING WIDTH ALTERNATELY WITH SERIES OF WIRE TURNS OF SUCCESSIVELY DECREASING WIDTH, EACH OF SAID SERIES FORMING A FLAT SPIRAL. 